Short-range wireless communication is becoming increasingly popular due to the increasing number of electronic devices utilized by various individuals and the desirability of transferring data between these electronic devices. Advances in data transfer rates and compatibility have further popularized short-range wireless communication as an individual may more easily transmit large amounts of data between multiple electronic devices. For example, individuals often desire to transfer data between various electronic devices such as laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular phones, personal computers, etc. Protocols such as Bluetooth and Ultra-wideband (UWB) communications are often utilized to facilitate the wireless transfer of data between electronic devices.
Unfortunately, these beneficial aspects of wireless data transfer between electronic devices are often impeded by the requirement that electronic devices utilize external antennas. For example, a radio transceiver implemented utilizing an integrated circuit conventionally requires an external antenna, which must also be interfaced with the integrated circuit. The interfacing of external antennas with one or more integrated circuits presents various difficulties, such as the size, power, and cost of providing the external antenna and the fixed form factor and/or propagation pattern created by utilization of external antennas.
Additionally, the utilization of external antennas increases the required size of electronic devices. For example, increases in technology have dramatically reduced the size of integrated circuits, but the advantages of such reduced sizes are limited by the requirement that integrated circuits be coupled with relatively large external antennas to wirelessly transmit data. Thus, the minimum size required of conventional electronic devices to wirelessly transmit data is increased by the use of external antennas.
Furthermore, conventional antennas have fixed configurations that produce fixed form factors and propagation patterns. Once manufactured, conventional antennas may not be easily modified to form other antenna configurations to produce other propagation patterns. Use of electronic devices having fixed antenna configurations is often limited to a single application as a desired propagation pattern may vary based on the particular application of an electronic device. Thus, conventional antennas are unable to be dynamically modified to conform to a desired antenna configuration required by a subsequent or altered use of the antenna.
Similarly, due to the fixed configuration of conventional antennas, devices including embedded antennas, such as conventional RFID devices, must be specifically orientated or aligned to transmit and receive data. Specific orientation and alignment requirements often prevent the use of embedded devices, as specific alignment is often impossible or impractical due to the layout constraints of a utilized device. For instance, the form factor of an integrated circuit mounted upon a circuit board may prevent antenna usage because of other constraints associated with the design of the board. Thus, various devices such as integrated circuits having a fixed layout position are often unable to communicate with other devices due to the inability to change antenna configurations to conform to a fixed layout constraint. The limitations described above generally exist regardless of whether a device is utilized for intra-board or off board communications.
The limitations associated with external antennas are not limited to fixed integrated circuits, as reprogrammable logic devices suffer from the same limitations. Reprogrammable logic devices, such as field programmable gate arrays (“FPGA”), are commonly utilized in all types of digital logic applications. FPGAs typically include an array of logic function generators or configurable logic elements, input/output ports, and a matrix of interconnect lines.
In conventional FPGAs, the matrix of interconnect lines generally surrounds the configurable logic elements and connects logic data signals between the configurable logic elements and between the configurable logic elements and the input/output ports. FPGAs are configured by programming memory elements, such as static RAM cells, anti-fuses, EPROM cells, and EEPROM cells, which control configuration of the device. Depending on the programming of the memory elements, the configurable logic elements will perform different logic functions and be connected to each other and to the inpuVoutput ports in a variety of ways. In general, FPGA's also provide programmable memory cells to configure other features on the IC. For instance, the routing of clock signals and use of multiple clock nets on a FPGA is often programmably selectable by the user.
Consequently, FPGAs may be utilized in a wide variety of situations in which wireless communication is desirable. However, conventional FPGAs are generally limited to utilizing external antennas in a similar manner to that described above and thus suffer the same limitations as other conventional circuits.